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Location: Jefferson City 4 days a week, St. Louis 3 days a week
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My vote goes to Missouri. Missouri is essentially the quintessential mix of a Northern and Southern state. The western parts have elements of the west, and the eastern parts have element of the east. In the Civil War, Missouri fought on both sides. It has essentially "Northern" cities like St. Louis and Kansas City, and "Southern" cities like Springfield. It is a near even mix of Catholics and Evangelicals. Since 1904, Missouri has swung to support the winning candidate in all but either 3 or 4 elections. Weatherwise, Missouri gets both cold, snowy winters and hot, humid summers. It is a giant mixture of speech patterns, and is cornfields in the Northern half of the state, the Ozark Mountains (or Lower Midwest/Mountain South) in the southern half, and the mississippi delta in the southeastern part. We grow corn, wheat, rice, cotton, and herd cattle. Finally, the state is geographically central. So which state do you think represents all of America the best?
Ohio is probably the closest thing to America in Miniature than I've seen.
California does contain elements found in every other stat, but is dominated by the cultures of San Francisco and Los Angeles.
Not Missouri. West Virginia would be a better example of the Northern most Southern State, the Southern most Northern State, The Eastern most of the Midwest and the Western most Eastern State.
Location: Jefferson City 4 days a week, St. Louis 3 days a week
2,709 posts, read 5,093,968 times
Reputation: 1028
What is it that Missouri's lacking? I just don't see West Virginia as being a Northern state in any sense...culturally, lingustically, and demographically, 3/4 of it is almost completely Southern. The only thing Northern about any of it is which side it fought on in the Civil War, and even then, Bobilee does a good job of showing that at least 2/3 of the state was on the side of the Confederacy. South of Morgantown and Clarksburg West Virginia is 100% Southern Appalachia. And there is absolutely nothing Midwestern about the vast majority it. And West Virginia doesn't represent the Western states at all.
Ohio is probably the closest thing to America in Miniature than I've seen.
California does contain elements found in every other stat, but is dominated by the cultures of San Francisco and Los Angeles.
Not Missouri. West Virginia would be a better example of the Northern most Southern State, the Southern most Northern State, The Eastern most of the Midwest and the Western most Eastern State.
I just heard someone on "Prairie Home Companion" refer to someone going from Ohio to "the midwest". I said to DH, Ohio isn't the midwest? Growing up in W Pennsylvania, we sure as heck thought of Ohio, 15 miles down the road, as midwest. So I guess I'd say Ohio is the most eastern of the midwestern states, and maybe (though I disagree) the most western of the eastern states.
The Trans Pecos area is totally Southwestern like New Mexico and Arizona.
The Texas Panhandle feels like the Great Plains
East Texas is fully in the Deep South.
The missing parts are the Rust Belt and BosWash corridor migrants not found in Texas.
Another would be California because of the migrants from every part of the US.
San Francisco was settled by New Englanders
Oakies and Arkies settled in the San Joaquin valley
All over California there's Midwesterners who moved here
The Hollywood industry was created by Jews from the Northeast
Blacks from the south moved in huge numbers to California.
I don't think any state represents ALL regions of America. However, the one state that I believe represents more regions than any other state would be Ohio or Pennsylvania. These two states blend the Northeast, Midwest and South pretty well.
I think Colorado successfully blends the West with the Midwest.
I think Texas successfully blends the West with the South.
California comes closest. You'll find every climate, every terrain type, and every density type. Mountains, ocean, desert, temperate rain forest, flat farmland, pine forests, open hilly areas with oaks, wine country, flat warm beaches and cool rocky coastline, hot and dry places as well as snowy cold places. High density urban areas to very rural. It almost has everything.
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